Battle of Green Spring
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Battle of Green Spring took place at Green Spring Plantation in James City County, Virginia during the American Revolutionary War.
Green Spring is a colonial era plantation developed by Royal Governor Sir William Berkeley in Virginia near the northwest tip of Jamestown Island, southwest of Williamsburg. In the summer of 1781, British General Lord Cornwallis occupied the city of Williamsburg for ten days, planning his next move. A British force had been in Virginia since January, having occupied Norfolk, burned Richmond, scuttled the Virginia State Navy on the Chickahominy River, and defeated a force of Virginia militia at Petersburg before Cornwallis had even entered Virginia from North Carolina. The British campaign in Virginia continued, with Crown forces destroying supplies at Point of Fork (modern day Columbia), and skirmished with American forces just days before entering the former capitol sixteen miles from Williamsburg at a place called Spencer’s Ordinary.
-Cornwallis was looking for a base of operations in Virginia, where the Royal Navy could resupply him easily and receive reinforcements from General Clinton in New York. At the same time, he had to contend with a combined force of Continentals and Virginia militia under the command of General Lafayette, who had been in Virginia since April. For the time being, until a suitable base of operations could be found, Cornwallis decided to retire to Portsmouth, and to do so, crossing the James River at the northwest tip of James Island – an area known as Green Spring, named after the 17th century plantation of Governor Berkeley.
With the British crossing the river, Lafayette saw an opportunity to strike Cornwallis and have a reasonable chance of defeating at least part of his army. His plan was to allow a portion of the British army to cross the river and then attack the remaining force. Cornwallis however saw an opportunity for a trap. Realizing Lafayette may capitalize on the opportunity to strike, Cornwallis sent only his baggage across the river, to be protected by the Queen’s Rangers and the North Carolina Volunteers. He positioned the rest of his army in a wooded area and in a deep valley, masqued from Lafayette’s view, which would spring on the young Frenchman when he moved his forces in.
-The battle occurred on July 6, 1781. Lafayette moved cautiously from his encampment at New Kent Courthouse the previous day and marched to Bird’s Tavern, some sixteen miles from Williamsburg, with the Continentals continuing to Chickahominy Church, or Norrell’s Mills, eight miles from Jamestown, where they sleep in the open, laying on their arms throughout the night.
On the morning of the 6th, further intelligence came in to confirm that Cornwallis was moving his army across the James and that only the rear guard remained on the Jamestown side. Lafayette then sent General “Mad Anthony” Wayne with five hundred men including the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment under Colonel Walter Stewart, along with an advance guard of light infantry under Major Galvan, Virginia rifle companies under the command of Majors Richard Call and John Willis, and a volunteer company commanded by Lt. Colonel John Mercer. Wayne’s force marched to within half a mile of the British pickets, and Mercer had been told by a local slave that both Cornwallis and Colonel Bannistre Tarleton were still on the north side of the river. Lafayette, who had accompanied Wayne in his advance, sent back for the 2nd and 3rd Pennsylvania Regiments and the remaining light infantry, who were still six miles back at Norrell’s Mills. The Virginia Continentals and Militia were held in reserve, twelve miles to the rear at Bird’s Tavern.
The British camp was positioned on the banks of the James and Cornwallis was doing everything he could to convince Lafayette that this was just the rear guard. Wayne’s advanced guards exchanged musket fire with British pickets throughout the afternoon and a patrol comprised of the British Legion were driven back along a road which cut through the marshy area around the river bank. Late into the afternoon, the two sides continued to skirmish with each other; Wayne waiting until his reinforcements arrived, Cornwallis waiting until the Continentals committed to a general action.
Wayne’s entire advance force began to cross the morass, with the rifle companies and light infantry keeping up a steady fire along the front, supported by McPherson’s light cavalry which was comprised of Armad’s Legion and the 1st Continental Light Dragoon, with Colonel Stewart and his Pennsylvanians held in reserve. Tarleton’s pickets continued to fall back, attempting to give Wayne the impression they were unsupported and fighting a delaying action. When the British reached a wood line, they held, under orders to do so to conceal the main army that was directly behind them. The Virginia riflemen were able to pick off British officers, as described in the memoirs of Captain Graham of the 76th Regiment of Foot: “the picket-guard of Colonel Dundas’s brigade, consisting of men of the Seventy-Eighth Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Balneaves, an officer of the Eightieth Regiment, was ordered to resist as long as possible, which they did for a length of time. The lieutenant was killed; and Lieutenant Alston of the same regiment, having taken the command, was severely wounded; and after him Ensign Wemyss, of the Seventy-sixth, was also wounded, when the picket received orders to retire.”
Wayne had no idea how close he was to Cornwallis and the main British force. The 2nd and 3rd Pennsylvania Regiments under Colonels Butler and Hampton, as well as Continental artillery soon arrived, along with several battalions of light infantry, and the Pennsylvanians and Gimat’s battalion of light infantry joined with Wayne’s advance guard. Two other battalions of light infantry, Vose’s and Barbers, formed a line behind Wayne as a reserve. Lafayette himself decided to ride forward along the river bank and saw that Cornwallis was presenting a rouse. He rode back to order Wayne to withdraw, but it was too late.
Cornwallis described the action in his report to General Clinton in New York: “Nothing, however, appeared near us but riflemen and militia till near sunset; when a body of Continentals, with artillery, began to form in the front of our camp. I then put the troops under arms, and ordered the army to advance in two lines. The attack was begun by the first line with great spirit. There being nothing but militia opposed to the light infantry, the action was soon over on the right. But Lieutenant-colonel Dundas’s brigade, consisting of the Forty-third, Seventy-sixth, and Eightieth Regiments, which formed the left wing, meeting the Pennsylvania line, and a detachment of the Marquis de la Fayette’s Continentals, with two six-pounders, a smart action ensued for some minutes, when the enemy gave way and abandoned their cannon. The cavalry were perfectly ready to pursue; but the darkness of the evening prevented my being able to use them.”
Wayne further described the action that ensued: “At three o’clock, the riflemen, supported by a few regulars, began and kept up a galling fire upon the enemy, which continued to five in the evening, when the British began to move forward in columns. The marquis, anxious to view them near, had proceeded rather far upon their left. It was, therefore, thought proper to order Major Galvan, at the head of the advanced guard, to meet and attack their front; who, after spirited though unequal contest, retired upon our left.” From Wayne’s report, Galvan’s Light Infantry had been sent to support the militia. Part of the reason for the lights to move forward on the American left was that a British cannon had been left in an exposed position and Galvan formed a skirmish line to make an attempt to capture it. When he did, according to Lafayette, “the whole British army came out and advanced to the small wood occupied by General Wayne.” Cornwallis, now convinced that Lafayette’s entire force was now present, moved forward as previously mentioned, in two lines. Tarleton states that they advanced “upon the first cannon-shot from the enemy”. The British light infantry, under Lt. Colonel Yorke, formed the right of the front line, while Colonel Dundas’s brigade of the 43rd, 76th, and 80th Regiments of Foot made up the left. The second line was comprised of the Guards, 23rd, and 33rd Regiments of Foot as well as the German regiment von Bose and Tarleton’s reformed British Legion (with a detachment of the 17th Light Dragoons). Making the Pennsylvania Continentals his center, Wayne formed Gimat’s light infantry (largely from Connecticut) on his right, with three artillery pieces (two under Captain Duffy and Captain-Lieutenant Crossley of Pennsylvania, one under Captain Joseph Savage of Massachusetts) among his forces.
The Continental forces numbered perhaps around 900 and were facing the bulk of Cornwallis’s army. The rifle companies and Galvan’s light infantry were falling back on the left, and after an initial advance, Gimat’s lights were beaten back on the right. Now realizing what he was up against, with one flank being turned and another being pressed, Wayne took a risky gamble. Instead of retreating, which may have sent his force into disarray, Wayne ordered his center to advance and charge. Moving forward under fire from musketry and grapeshot, Wayne brought his men within seventy yards of the British when he made a stand. For fifteen minutes, the two sides fired into each other, until the carnage was enough that Wayne had to retreat, covered by Vose’s and Barber’s light infantry, which had been held in reserve, and the dwindling daylight.
Captain Davis and Lieutenant Feltman of Pennsylvania described this action in similar terms to their superiors: “Marched about 5 o’clock A.M. for Jamestown, where the enemy at this time lay in force. When the army had advanced within five miles of this town, the First Pennsylvania Battalion was detached, with a number of riflemen, to Green Springs, which brought on a scattering fire that continued for three hours, when a body of light infantry came with the other two battalions of Pennsylvania troops. The line was displayed, and we advanced; by this time the enemy was meeting us, when a general action ensued. At the distance of one hundred yards, we charged on their main body, under heavy and incessant fire of grape and canister shot; at this instant we opened our musketry. Their right flanking our left, a retreat was found necessary; with the loss of two pieces of artillery, we retired to the church, where we lay this night.”
For the Continentals, four sergeants and twenty-four rank and file were killed; five captains, one captain-lieutenant, four lieutenants, seven sergeants and eighty-two rank and file were wounded; with twelve men were missing, making their losses about one-hundred and forty-five. Two of the cannon, which had been captured at Bennington, were left on the field. The British reported seventy-five killed and wounded.
Cornwallis would eventually cross to the south side of the James, while Lafayette would withdraw towards Richmond to Malvern Hill. By August, Cornwallis would move from Portsmouth to Yorktown, where he would one month later find himself under siege by a French and American army, leading to his surrender.
